'We don't like to diagnose / label anymore'

Sorry me again! Been at this game for years but having the toughest month of my life. I am being told that if my ds has dyspraxia or asd then they don't diagnose these any more. Only a MRI would reveal dyspraxic brain function ( not his symptoms maybe?) is this true?

SENCO at school told me this and that we will never get a statement. My OT said she can not give any diagnosis as she isn't qualified. This all does up what I said to my HV as what is point of having these services. I think I need to presume that everyone is my enemy and they are all liers

I think I also need to use these kind of statements as evidence for official complaints. Who am I to say ot can not diagnose? I was told my son needs a 21 month delay to get a statement in Surrey. But another mum has a statement at 2.5 years for a walking talking child ( I don't know many five month olds who walk and talk so I guess he isn't 21 months delayed?)

OTs do not and will not diagnose (as in give a DX). However, they can and will identify specific difficulties. AFAIK nly a paediatrician or a edu psych can make a DX.

Has your DS been referred to CAMHS?

Statements are not to do with whether or not you can walk and talk - have a look at the ipsea website which dispels some common myths. It's certainly true that many LEAs try and avoid statementing because they cost money.

I have dyslexia and a degree and a corporate job so I know what it's like to be told 'you will never....' Then rub someone's nose in it as 'I did' still my life was harder for it, I felt ( and still do) felt weaker because of it. My informal diagnosis was at 17. I don't want this for my child. Too right it made me a fighter but at a cost.

Though for a firm diagnosis of anything, you need to go via CAMHS or a paediatrician, depending on how services are organised in your area. They should then look at all the evidence from all professionals involved.

And dyspraxia has numerous causes. Often it's down to hypermobile joints having poor proprioception because ligaments are too stretchy and your brain isn't getting the proper feedback that tells it exactly where your hands and feet are etc.

For the love of god! is there anything that anybody should do actually being done?!

EP told me if my Ds continues to struggle the next step would be a statement....but it's highly unlikely due to being cognitively able....ok so we'll just let him struggle then! The school are just letting him spend 4 lessons staring at the same page of work because he has had tests to show he is 'able' so he just CBA.

moondog that is true. The S&L department can't help my Ds because he has a Dx of AS so all his communication difficulties are a part of that....After a very heated discussion with the Head of the department. I have managed to get an appointment but chances are he will get discharged again after they have told me same again.....doc martins will be coming out that day for sure.

Every counties departments work so differently, you never know where to turn. I read that the paediatrician in our area Dx's dyspraxia then when we went to the appointment she referred to OT because there could sometimes be an overlap of the symptoms of AS and dyspraxia....so I'm guessing it will be the OT then?? .

Your right 2boys it is hard work and by the sounds of it I have only just started a journey you have been on for a while.

'The S&L department can't help my Ds because he has a Dx of AS so all his communication difficulties are a part of that....'

I find this genuinely perplexing.Many people have symptoms which are because of an underlying cause.I don't like to get to medical with S&L but to use an analogy, do you not deal with the pain felt by a cancer sufferer because 'it's part of the cancer'?Not give someone with a broken leg a crutch because 'it's part of having a broken leg'Not give a myopic a pair of glasses because 'it's part of being myopic'Not give a person with diabetes insulin 'because it's part of being diabetic.'

The skewed logic of it is utterly bizarre. it would be better if people just said 'I'm sorry but we don't think we can help with this issue' than come up with these surreal excuses.

Crazee yes I been fighting the long fight for a longtime. Tbh people don't want you on their budget hence 'it's not my area' or 'not from my budget' still someone has to pay or we are setting our kids up for failure and the doss house and surely someone pays then? How do these people justify their jobs? Sounds like its it's paper pushing with no purpose to me

I wish the standard line was ( forgive me being crude) 'life is shit then you die' because at least then I could give up my futile fight to get my son a basic level of care rather than fighting tooth and nail for something I will never get. At least then it would be clear where we are going

We went looking round a secondary last year when dd was in year 5.Spoke to sen and asked her what they could do for dd and how they would meet her needs.

She showed me all this wonderful stuff to teach children to read, as basic as dog/cat and such.DD has a reading age of 13 as she has developed her own methods.She is however working at level 1 for literacy otherwise.Senco said "oh she can read? She would manage fine in normal class then" so basically in a class of 30 plus, no ta and no help.